At The Western Wall, 1870

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Read this anecdote on being at the Western Wall in 1870.


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Slave Society Symptoms?

This has been a recurrent story theme of the Arab world: immigrant women being abused, oppressed and treated a step above slavery.

Today, in the NYTimes:

Immigrant Maids Flee Lives of Abuse in Kuwait

...Rosflor Armada, who is staying in the Philippines Embassy, said that last year during Ramadan, she cooked all day for the evening meal and was allowed to sleep only about two hours a night. “They said, ‘You will work. You will work.’ ” She said that she left after her employers demanded that she wash the windows at 3 a.m.

The existence of the shelters reflects a hard reality here: With few legal protections against employers who choose not to pay servants, who push them too hard, or who abuse them, sometimes there is nothing left to do but run...human rights groups say the potential for mistreatment is acute in several countries in the Middle East, especially those with large numbers of migrant workers who rely on a sponsorship system that makes employers responsible for the welfare of their workers.

That system is particularly entrenched in Kuwait, where oil riches allow many families to have several servants, human rights advocates say. And conditions for some workers here are bad enough that the United States Department of State in a 2010 report singled out Kuwait, along with 12 other countries, for failing to do enough to prevent human trafficking.

The report noted that migrants enter Kuwait voluntarily, but “upon arrival some are subjected to conditions of forced labor by their sponsors and labor agents, including through such practices as nonpayment of wages, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement, such as the withholding of passports.”

...The perils faced by many domestic workers were brought into sharp focus in recent weeks, when the local news media reported that a Sri Lankan maid who fled to her embassy said she had been imprisoned by her Kuwaiti employers, without pay, for 13 years...Also last month, the news media reported that a Filipino maid was allegedly tortured and killed by her employers, who the media said ran over her body with a car in the desert in order to make her death look like an accident.

Human rights advocates say the problem of abuse persists because it is rarely punished...In 2009, embassies in Kuwait received more than 10,000 complaints from domestic workers about unpaid wages, long working hours and physical, sexual and psychological abuse...Alida Ali, a 22-year-old from the Philippines, described a different kind of punishment. She begged her agency to move her from an abusive family, and when her employers found out, she said, they threw her out of a third-floor window, breaking her back...

Stories from Lebanon.

From Pakistan.

In Jordan.

In Israel, it seems local men are marrying the immigrant domestic labor force.

Is that another form of abuse?


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On That Spontaneous Arab Violence

You recall that threat of spontaneous violence, yes?

Jerusalem Post

Four people, including the police commissioner's deputy, Insp.-Gen. Shahar Ayalon, were lightly injured on Tuesday morning, during violence which broke out between Umm el-Fahm residents and Border Police forces at a right-wing march in the Arab city.

Police reported that Israeli Arab protesters threw stones at the activists, but further escalation was prevented by tear gas and stun grenades.

The march ended without further incidents, after the right-wing activists marched through the town waving Israeli flags.

Haaretz

Leftist lawmaker Ilan Ghilon (Meretz) and a high-ranking police officer were wounded on Tuesday in a clash between police and demonstrators protesting a march by far-rightists near the Israeli Arab town of Umm al-Fahm.

The far-rightists began the march at 10:00 A.M. and ended it about 45 minutes later. The clashes, however, continued after the march had been concluded.

Ghilon was wounded by a tear gas grenade fired by police in a bid to disperse hundreds of counter-protesters; the police officer was lightly hurt when a stone hurled by a demonstrator hit him in the head.

A number of other police officers were also wounded in the clash, which erupted after police arrested three Israeli Arabs who had scuffled with officers. The detainees had gathered for a counter-demonstration held by Umm al-Fahm residents.

Ynet

Deputy Police Commissioner Shahar Ayalon was lightly injured Tuesday morning by stones hurled during a right-wing activists' march in the northern Arab town of Umm al-Fahm. Another senior officer and a policeman were also lightly wounded. Knesset Member Ilan Ghilon (Meretz), who was also present in the area, was hurt by tear gas fired by the police...

The rightists were greeted by the city's residents and several left-wing activists, who threw stones at the marchers. Residents standing on rooftops waved shoes and cursed the marching activists.

The police used tear gas and shock grenades against the protestors on both sides in a bid to prevent an escalation. The parade ended about half an hour later, and its participants returned to their buses.

..."The only weapon we are bringing is the Israeli flag," MK Ben-Ari told Ynet. He rejected the claims that his people were attempting to create a provocation. There are hostile elements who say that the State of Israel is a provocation. They say that any national matter is a provocation. But all we are doing is wave the Israeli flag. All we are demanding is loyalty to the State, and that the police will be able to move freely and enforce the law. We are not here to provoke or expel anyone."

One of the Arab protestors complained about the police's policy. "What can I say? You see for yourselves how the police defend the settlers instead of defending the city's residents."

You notice that "settlers" term?

A Matter of Belief

Here's the big problem.

The Arabs tend to "believe" what is not true.

Arguments persist over how many of the dead were truly uninvolved civilians, with Palestinian officials saying half or more than half, and Israel saying far less than half.

But the residents here were horrified by the numbers of civilians they believed had died,

Source